The week of Snovid — or Snowmageddon — here in North Texas was a challenge to say the least. Despite an emergency planning session and calls to all our clients and caregivers on the Friday before the bad weather set in, the hurdles we faced were more challenging than we anticipated.

One downside to our senior friends and loved ones spending so much time alone this year is that quality of life can really take a turn. Here’s a helpful list of strategies to maintaining healthy memories and active minds. And, the best part, all of these activities can be done safely at home.

Whether you’re able to see your aging loved ones in person or on video call, please review these warning signs to keep a lookout for. While we’ve kept our senior friends safe from COVID-19 through social distancing, the isolation is really taking its toll. This checklist will help you easily determine if your loved one could use some help – and companionship. If you’re visiting by video, see if your loved one can safely show you around their home to check for some of these signs.

Well, friends, we know Thanksgiving won’t look like holiday celebrations in the past. You’ve already made the hard decisions and the tough calls, and even though it hurts, you did the right thing.

Have you made your virtual gathering plans yet?

Overture Home Care congratulates our leadership team — CEO Denise Helms, Senior Vice President Paige Wolk and Executive Director Zach Tarrant — for completing the 2019-2020 University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) Geriatric Practice Leadership Institute (GLPI) program.

While depression is common, it’s NOT a normal part of aging. This Depression Screening Day, take a look at common symptoms and determine if you or your loved one needs help.

Feeling frustrated with your exercise routine while trying to stay safe? Here’s our advice for Healthy Aging® month!

Sure, we’re all tired of social distancing. This is not the world any of us intended to be living in. But to stay safe, we need to keep that social distancing thing going at least a little longer — especially for our vulnerable senior loved ones.

For years now, long distance caregiving has been a growing trend as more and more seniors choose to retain their independent lives while adult family members move away in pursuit of careers and relationships. But in the age of COVID-19, even around the corner can mean long distance. Here’s what you need to know.

Denise Helms, R.N., CEO of Overture Home Care, a Fort Worth, Texas-based home care service company, has announced that the company now has three Certified Dementia Practitioners on staff: Ms. Helms, executive director Zach Tarrant, and senior vice president Paige Wolk. Ms. Wolk earned her certification previously; Ms. Helms and Mr. Tarrant were certified this year.

During the current public health crisis, we’d like to extend Men’s Health Week recognition to the many male caregivers among us, and to the specific physical and mental health issues that they face.

We love you. We see you. We are listening.

You may know Cherae Slack, R.N., as one of our nurse liaisons, but with COVID-19 threatening our senior friends and loved ones, we immediately designated Cherae as our COVID-19 Coordinator. In this role, she supports staff and families, ensures proper protocol, and stays up-to-the-minute on local, state, national, and regulatory recommendations and mandates.

The current COVID-19 crisis is a rapidly changing situation, and we encourage you to check the links below for up-to-date information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association

Our older relatives, friends and neighbors have been most at risk during the COVID-19 crisis. That risk continues for them, even as states around the country — including our own Texas — begin to reopen. As some of us reclaim more normal lives, our elderly loved ones are still facing both a viral pandemic and a very real pandemic of isolation and loneliness. Let us take this month to recommit to reaching out and to providing companionship and connection in any way possible.

Denise Helms, R.N., CEO of Overture Home Care, a Fort Worth, Texas-based home care service company, has announced that Overture earned a perfect score in the recent state survey of elder care providers conducted by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

Let’s give a hand to the occupational therapists who work hard to make the lives of our senior loved ones more comfortable and fulfilling. If you are a senior caregiver, you know the valuable services that occupational therapists provide — from training in basic mobility to help with domestic tasks, self-care routines and important communication, recreational and social skills.

Our senior friends and family members have always been most at risk to suffer neurological symptoms from Parkinson’s Disease. Now they are also most at risk for serious complications from COVID-19 viral infections.

We know why you are here, reading this. We know that caring for an aging parent or loved one has placed you under tremendous stress during the current COVID-19 crisis. We know that you worry about caring for high-risk elderly family members, and that you obsess over the conflicting need to keep them physically separated from the rest of your family.